Plato's esoteric teachings in his written dialogues are hidden in plain sight. However, discerning their meaning requires proficiency in a special tradition.
As we saw in an earlier essay, Plato's teaching about the esoteric nature of philosophy is plainly referred to in his Phaedo:
"For I deem that the true disciple of philosophy is likely to be misunderstood by other men; they do not perceive that he is ever pursuing death and dying...the separation of soul and body...when the soul lives in herself, and is parted from the body..."
"In matters of this sort philosophers, above all other men, may be observed in every sort of way to dissever the soul from the body."
Here Plato is referring to the teaching concerning "dying before you die" which is one of the central concepts of the Perennial Tradition. Philosophy, the love of and the search for wisdom, is the actual practice of learning to leave the physical body and live in the soul, the spiritual body.
The philosopher - seeker after wisdom - lives in her soul, the higher consciousness. Discerning the essence of philosophy, we now have important clues as to the nature of Plato's mystical science - what he called maieutic psychagogy:
Plato's Socrates, in the dialogues, practiced an extraordinary kind of shared mystical experience in which he served as a psychagogic midwife, overseeing the process of the divulgence of, the bringing into being of new elements: ideas, feelings, inspirations, and images.
Both Socrates and the other participants in the dialogues were in an altered state of consciousness. Socrates at times had to work to bring other participants into a heightened state, since they were largely unfamiliar with the experience. But his presence and his actions were able to bring them into this higher state - so much so that the participants sometimes spoke of being entranced, charmed, or bewitched.
"Menon: You seem to me to be a veritable wizard, casting your spells over me, and I am truly getting bewitched and enchanted, and YOU HAVE STOPPED MY WORLD. And if I may venture to make a jest about you, you seem to me both in your appearance and in your power over others to be very like the flat torpedo fish [electric eel], who torpifies those who come near him and touch him, as you have now STOPPED MY WORLD...And I think that you are very wise in not venturing away from home, for if you performed your necromancy in other places as you do in Athens, you would be cast into prison as a sorcerer." - Meno
As is clear from the Phaedo and other dialogues, Plato believed that we can only discover truth when we are in our higher consciousness...
iTunesRush - The Trees